Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, though, is not yet among those who have spurned the feds’ wishes and cash. He’s filled with uncertainty, because the feds haven’t detailed how the larger program will work, who will pay for what and for how long. In his capacity as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, McDonnell posed a litany of questions to the Obama administration on these points.

But the heart of the matter is much simpler: How on earth can the feds hope to pay for the commitments they want the states to make? On that issue, McDonnell’s letter states:

We also do not understand how the federal government can begin to afford to implement PPACA, with deficits already over $1 trillion in every year of your presidency, and the debt growing $5 trillion in the past 3 years to an outrageous record of nearly $16 trillion.

The answer is it can’t be paid for. Not now, next year or in the mythical budget years to come because the federal government is broke.

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